The advent of the Internet has resulted in the ability to communicate data across the globe instantaneously, and will allow for numerous new applications which enhance consumer's lives. One of the enhancements which can occur is the ability for the consumer to receive advertising which is relevant to their lifestyle, rather than a stream of ads determined by the program they are watching. Such "targeted ads" can potentially reduce the amount of unwanted information which consumers receive in the mail, during television programs, and when using the Internet.
From an advertiser's perspective the ability to target ads can be beneficial since they have some confidence that their ad will at least be determined relevant by the consumer, and therefore will not be found annoying because it is not applicable to their lifestyle.
In order to determine the applicability of an advertisement to a consumer, it is necessary to know something about their lifestyle, and in particular to understand their demographics (age, household size, income). In some instances it is useful to know their particular purchasing habits. As an example, a vendor of soups would like to know which consumers are buying their competitor's soup, so that they can target ads at those consumers in an effort to convince them to switch brands. That vendor will probably not want to target loyal customers, although for a new product introduction the strategy may be to convince loyal customers to try the new product. In both cases it is extremely useful for the vendor to be able to determine what brand of product the consumer presently purchases.
There are several difficulties associated with the collection, processing, and storage of consumer data. First, collecting consumer data and determining the demographic parameters of the consumer can be difficult. Surveys can be performed, and in some instances the consumer will willingly give access to normally private data including family size, age of family members, and household income. In such circumstances there generally needs to be an agreement with the consumer regarding how the data will be used. If the consumer does not provide this data directly, the information must be "mined" from various pieces of information which are gathered about the consumer, typically from specific purchases.
Once data is collected, usually from one source, some type of processing can be performed to determine a particular aspect of the consumer's life. As an example, processing can be performed on credit data to determine which consumers are a good credit risk and have recently applied for credit. The resulting list of consumers can be solicited, typically by direct mail.
Although information such as credit history is stored on multiple databases, storage of other information such as the specifics of grocery purchases is not typically performed. Even if each individual's detailed list of grocery purchases was recorded, the information would be of little use since it would amount to nothing more than unprocessed shopping lists.
Privacy concerns are also an important factor in using consumer purchase information. Consumers will generally find it desirable that advertisements and other information is matched with their interests, but will not allow indiscriminate access to their demographic profile and purchase records.
The Internet has spawned the concept of "negatively priced information" in which consumers can be paid to receive advertising. Paying consumers to watch advertisements can be accomplished interactively over the Internet, with the consumer acknowledging that they will watch an advertisement for a particular price. Previously proposed schemes such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,210, entitled "Attention Brokerage," of which A. Nathaniel Goldhaber and Gary Fitts are the inventors, describe such a system, in which the consumer is presented with a list of advertisements and their corresponding payments. The consumer chooses from the list and is compensated for viewing the advertisement. The system requires real-time interactivity in that the viewer must select the advertisement from the list of choices presented.
The ability to place ads to consumers and compensate them for viewing the advertisements opens many possibilities for new models of advertising. However, it is important to understand the demographics and product preferences of the consumer in order to be able to determine if an advertisement is appropriate.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a consumer profiling system which can profile the consumer, provide access to the consumer profile in a secure manner, and return a measurement of the potential applicability of an advertisement.